


unwanted

by reverse_robin



Category: Hades (Video Game 2018)
Genre: (it's in his comparisons btw if you wanna look), :), M/M, and then this popped into my head, but y'all know i'm a sucker for 'self-absorbed character is actually very very insecure', just slammed some keys and came up with this, kinda angsty, kinda hurt/comfort, so here you go, so there's that, so uh, this came into my mind, when plutarch said that theseus may not have been wanted by the gods, yeah this is Not edited at all
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-15
Updated: 2020-12-15
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:14:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 879
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28088325
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reverse_robin/pseuds/reverse_robin
Summary: there was once a king of old, known for his fight with a bull-headed beast. there was once a king of old, who offered himself up as sacrifice and took the road most dangerous to make it safer for others. there was once a king of old, the creator of democracy, the uniter of cities and towns. there was once a king loved by all, and his name was theseus.
Relationships: Asterius | The Minotaur/Theseus (Hades Video Game)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 85





	unwanted

Theseus is a king wanted by all but one - the foul fiend, hell-prince Zagreus. He stands in the battlefield, amongst the pillars of gently-glowing blue shades. The stone beneath his feet is cracked and patterned, the walls decorated with banners of his own most perfect visage. Asterius stands next to him, as he always has, clutching his axe and shuffling his feet, preparing for the battle to come. Zagreus is coming. Zagreus, that foul daemon, and with each and every one of his victories Theseus only grows stronger. Zagreus is some sort of immortal monster, he is sure of that, but while Theseus is only mortal (or ex-mortal, he supposes) he has what Zagreus doesn’t. And he will remind him of that each and every time the daemon-boy passes through.

The door ahead rumbles and the spectres light up, souls flickering like candle-flames. Dust falls from the domed ceiling, and Asterius stiffens next to Theseus. 

‘King. I hear him. The short one is coming.’

‘And we will defeat him, my fine friend!’ Theseus replies, a grin on his face as he hefts his spear and shield. They were never his most favourite weapons when he was alive - his club from Periphetes combined with his own intelligence was quite enough, but he has to admit that he understands now why the Spartans favoured the combination so much. Ahead, the yelling and flashes of light from beneath the door go silent. Theseus’ stomach twists, and he forgets, just for a brief moment as the door slams open and Zagreus the daemon prince strides in, bloody and hellish, a man-shaped monster like the ones he fought in life, that he is dead. 

Today Zagreus carries a bow, the arrow laced with the green of Lady Artemis. Theseus can’t help but wrinkle his nose. So the daemon decides to be a coward today, and fight from afar? Very well.

‘Hold, daemon! My fine companion and I shall not let you pass!’

‘Can we not do this today, Theseus? I just need to get through. Doesn’t it get tiring, fighting over and over and over again?’ Zagreus asks. Theseus laughs heroically and readies his spear and shield.

‘Trickery I see! A good try, monster, but you will not trick Asterius nor I today! Now, prepare-’

‘Enough of your stupid talk, Theseus,’ Zagreus snarls, and Theseus notices just how red the prince’s shadowed eye is, and the tinge of red lacing the bow itself. Lord Ares, god of war and blood and violence, blesses him today, in body and spirit.

‘You claim you’re the greatest king Athens has ever seen, but you do know that you’re nothing, right? You’re worse than nothing. Everyone knows that the gods didn’t even want you to be born, Theseus. All your talk of being the greatest king, of the shades loving you - they’re all lies. You’re a nobody wearing a crown. You tried to step out of the shadow of your cousin, Heracles, and all you did push yourself into the darkness further. You’re  
.’

Asterius rumbles something threatening, but Theseus doesn’t hear it. He barely notices as Zagreus begins his brutal attack, his spectral body carrying out the motions as he hears nothing, sees nothing.

Is nothing.

The battle is over quickly. Theseus feels the final arrow sink into his chest, a dull explosion of pain (nothing is really all that sharp in Elysium anyway, save for the blades) and he sinks into the blue light. He wakes on the field overlooking all Elysium - his field, his resting place. Asterius joins him not long after.

‘It isn’t true, what that… unholy prince said, right, Asterius?’ Theseus asks, not meeting his bovine companion’s eyes. ‘I am the best king Athens had to offer. I… everyone loves me. The shades love me! I am a king! Everyone… I am not nothing, yes?’

‘Of course not, king. What has the short one ever done for the world above? You changed things. You made things better up there. All he does is kill and destroy.’

Theseus nods, but he doesn’t believe Asterius. Theseus is a king, but a king unwanted. A ruler loved for a single battle with his once-enemy, now-partner. Zagreus is right. He feels it when he calls on the gods’ aid, feels their support guiding his hand but the revulsion with which they touch him. Dionysus rarely helps him at all, but at least Theseus understands that. Even Poseidon, his own father, lends his help only slightly, and with great reluctance. He should never have been born in the first place. He created the democracy that Athens became so famous for. He was the keeper of the laws, the first, the best. And yet here he is, fighting forever and ever. He is tired. That’s all he can feel truly, now. Pain and glory and the ache in his bones. 

He leans against Asterius’ side, takes comfort in his warmth. Well, not just the ache in his bones. He feels a different kind of ache, one he is not used to, one that might, in the world above, where mortals stay dead when they fight, be called pleasant.

Theseus is a king unwanted by all but one. And, at least until the very next fight, he is happy that way.


End file.
